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Hugh's
home
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Here
is an edited selection of some comments regarding the Fife Surnames
list - and other FH pages I
have
Google works again!
In 2004, I was contacted by an
academic from Queensland, Australia who wrote: "I got your contact
address from a Kingdom of Fife query web page. My interest is in John
Christie Aitken of Thornton and Acheron in Victoria." I was able to
supply him with a lot of accurate information, and make some
corrections. He was most
appreciative.So many thanks again
for all your work on this website. Regards,
Sue
Pedersen, Australia 31 Jan
2006
Thanks
for all your work on our behalf. What
great resources your website has led me to!
Thank you.
Lee Ann Bourcier
Oregon, USA 25 Jul
2005
I
have had some good leads with a new
cousin contacting me from Canada just recently, along with helpful
information from others researching the same names. You do a great
job maintaining the list and I find
the details/queries section is of great benefit - rather than just a
straight surname list. Heather Whitwell. -
Perth, Western Australia - 3 Mar
2005
I
often trawl thru your pages. Thanks
for the effort you put in to help us to make the search for our long
forgotten past easier. I'm new to
genealogy but thus far have loved searching the web and various lists
for ancestors. Its like a lovely treasure
hunt. Janice Graham -
Waiuku - New Zealand - 11 Nov
2004
As a result of your
interesting website, someone
contacted me about the Bowmans of Crail and suggested Walter Bowman,
Laird of Logie, as the laird to whom Thomas was gamekeeper.
Wendy Garcia Winters
- Spain -
7-Nov-2004
I
found the pages very well organised and easy to
navigate. I was hopeful of finding
more Fotheringham listings as research I have done indicates that it
is most common in the Fife area.
I will see what my submissions lead
to. - Scott Gillis
- St John's NF, Canada - 12 Aug
2004
I
have just had a look at your home page and am very
impressed.
Linda
Temple - Rosyth, near Dunfermline,
Fife - 10 Apr 2004
Thanks for maintaining
a great family search resource so well. Judy Ramsay-Jensen -
Foresthill, CA -
31-March-2004
I
have been contacted by several people
who found information on your Fife
Surnames pages. Many thanks for all your work. Your surnames list has
probably helped more people than you will ever
know. - Margaret Rome
- Vancouver, Canada - 12 Dec
2003
A quick thanks for the
Kingdom of Fife Surname List. I've
been looking a long time for forbears of Jean HOWDEN, spouse of David
PATERSON, and your list gives not
only her but her siblings also - the
only source I've found that's given me this lead.
Very
useful, I shall visit again. -
How I found your site?
I was getting frustrated with not
finding any hits using the usual websites (familysearch.org, world
project...) so I simply typed in 'Jean Howden' 'David Paterson' in
Google
and your site was the one hit!! A
shot in the dark! - James
Ingram - United Kingdom - 21 April
2003
I
have had several contacts through GENUKI over the
years, some of which have been
definitely connected. Also I have had responses from some people I
have approached via their listings on GENUKI. It is interesting how
the contacts can come at any
time, several months or years later,
so the permanence of the message
board is a strong
point. Hugh Hoffman -
Fife, Scotland 21 Feb
2003
Thank you for the email address
change, Hugh. I missed the Paton name.
I have had lots of success
on the Venters line but not so much
on the others. Thanks for your help.
Maurene
Wilson, Alberta, Canada
07-Feb-2003
Sometimes
I get enquiries that are a little hard to
process.
An interesting one
was: "I have recently found that
Constantine I of
Alba was my 32nd great grandfather.
He was born 836 and died 877 by being
beheaded at Inverdouct, Furgon,
Fife. Can you tell me anything about
this person and any family
information?" I did not reply.
- It was from
Allan L. Smith
Georgetown, Texas USA, 23 Dec 2002
Re the
email bounce that you found - Thank you very much for taking the time
to track me down. I appreciate your
support and work with GENUKI ! Best
wishes, Bonnie M.
Gilson, Phoenix, Arizona
11-Oct-2002.
What
a pleasant
surprise to find such a
comprehensive
listing for people searching for
Fife families.I have submitted a query..which, if I am lucky to get
an answer, will provide a couple more generations back for an Ottawa
family!!!!! Joan
Gilday. Knowlton Quebec
Canada
04-Sep-02
Have
just found your site; am most impressed.
Rae Worcester
- 08 May
2002
I
have recently received an e-mail from the USA and we are matched with
his family from Scotland abt 1820. A long wait - I sent you my
material on 16 Feb 1999! Patience has
its rewards! Thanks for maintaining
the site. Regards - Jean Dean -
Wiltshire England
29-March-02
Thanks
to your list I have traced the McAndrew/Reedie family back
many more generations
than I could do by myself. thank you
for all you do to maintain the lists.
Aloha from Hawaii - Colette
Pirie -
17-Jan-02
Your
site is all very well done and full
of useful information. I am most
grateful that people like yourself go to so much work for us all. A
great thank you - sent your way -
Richelle Buckles Meeker, Colorado,
USA
07-Jan-2002
I
have had many good responses, and am
corresponding with a number of people in not only Fife, but also
Canada and Australia who are doing research on Fife families. Leo
Storey - Mansfield, OH, USA -
01-Jan-2002
I've had lots of
responses. Surprising where some
come from - Thanks again - Thurman
Reynolds - 31-Dec-2001 - also
18-Dec-98
Have
had great connections to the
Blaik/Blake twig; have been sent photos of Aberdour, Castle,Village
and St. Fillans Church etc - Carol
Martin 31-Dec-2001
I
get a couple of e-mails a month regarding surnames that I have
posted. Also, a person contacted me and they had
a family Bible with the births
recorded. Phil Grinton - Northern
Californi
31-Dec-2001
We
have had a couple of very good responses -
well worth the
listing. Mary LeMay
31-Dec-2001
Thank
you for maintaining such a great service -
Patricia
Hammond - Australia 04-Aug-2001
The
value of these surname lists is
incalculable as there are all my
name interests displayed for all to see. It's not like the List where
you might catch someone's query and realize that it fits or after a
period of utter boredom with the names of others - you have to
're-post'. I have received 6 contacts
who have connected to my Fife Tree.
The nice thing is that it doesn't stop with the initial contact -
we correspond on a regular
basis, and share the travails of the
modern family twigs and twiglets! Thank you for all your time and
effort. Sheila Byrne - USA -
04-Oct-2001
I
think I've written you before, but wanted to tell you once again,
what a nice, user-friendly
site you maintain with the Fife
surname list. I haven't found my cousins yet, but it is a pleasure
looking. Keep up the good work! - Lyn
Fisher
01-May-2001
- California,
USA
I
really enjoy your page - you have
done so
much to make it very
interesting. Yvonne Hart -
16-Apr-2001 New
Zealand
By
the way I think your site is
excellent - I hope I have some luck
in making connections. Thanks -
Judith Florry - Durham, England -
01-Mar-2001
Thanks
for the great resource you have
created. I
believe I may have found a distant
cousin in Canada, through your
surname list. - Chrisy Dennis, Melbourne, Australia - 25-Jan-2001
I
have visited your site a few times and
found it
wonderful. I have e-mailed a few off
the listing and have recieved answers that are not conclusive to
connecting with my family. Thank you
for having this web site. - Cindy
Elschide - Northwest Indiana USA 30-Dec-2000
Just
visited your website on Scottish Surnames
and loved
it. Thank you so much for this
genealogical tool. It's great -
Maureen
- via "Jean Nelson"
25-July-2000
Your
service is much appreciated.
Rob Wallace, Adelaide, Australia -
14-Apr-00
I
have had several people contact me,
one of which was related to me way
back. It's been a good thing. -
Steven Brande
01-Jan-00
I
have had some responses: although they haven't given me new
ancestors, I've been able to exchange
information, learn some new details, and talk to "new"
cousins. Leanne Broughton
31-Dec-99
I
have found the lists to be VERY
valuable and have found many
'cousins' (over time) via this means.. keep up the good work!!
Andrea Hackney
31-Dec-99
Have
had a few responses to my message,
all interesting and much
appreciated. Marilyn
Rochford 31-Dec-99
I
have had a number of responses. Most
are not my husband's family, but one was and we were able to share
lots of information. Thank you for doing the surname
list. Joyce Hancock
29-Dec-99
I
have had several replies on the Keddie and Justice names and
one excellent one from a Justice
(in Canada) who is a direct
descendant of my gggrandfather's brother. Well done Genuki Surnames -
keep up the good work! William Robertson
29-Dec-99
I
have had success through your surnames page and
many
thanks for having my names on it.
- Patricia Legg, Victoria, Australia - 15 Dec
1999
Hello
Hugh. Yes, I've had some fantastic
information sent me by some wonderful
people, especially the TULLIS line.
Anyway, thank you for a wonderful web
site. Kathy Schmidt -
Penna. U.S.A. 29-Nov-99
Many
thanks for your help, Hugh. Will keep visiting your site as it is
a very useful
service. Russ Allison
24-Oct-99
Many
thanks for your help. You do a
fabulous job. Thank you for all the
assistance and the effort you put into the FIFE information.
It really is so great for those of us
who find it very difficult to get to a research
facility. Kind regards, Sue Holloway
- Tropical North Queensland, Australia
20-Oct-99
I
am happy to tell you that so far I
have made three very useful contacts
via this route. That's in just 6 weeks. Many thanks.
Shelagh
Quick, Berks, England.
03-Oct-1999
Thanks
for the wonderful site! Sandy
MacRae. British Columbia, Canada
02-Sep-1999
Thank
you for putting my names on the
Kingdom of
Fife listing:
your time and effort is greatly
appreciated. I shall now sit back
and expect millions of distant relations with photos and information
about gaps in the family tree to contact me - Faint hope! I have
researched my family history for years, and visited Fife again in
1997 from Australia. I am back to a
1590 marriage in Dunfermline. -
Patricia Hammond. Australia
14-Aug-1999
I've
received a couple of dozen or so enquiries, probably stemming from
your list. One nice thing is that I
got a few Japp enquiries, which
resulted in us forming an informal
group to swap
information. Iain Sommerville - Fife-
11-Aug-99
May I just add
a big Thank
You to you and your colleagues for
all the help you give us 'tree searchers'. It's so wonderful when
you've had hardly any family to
suddenly discover real live
relations through the help and
encouragement of 'strangers' - people who really are like family
should be! I've had loads of successes with my India connection, so
fingers crossed for the Scottish lot! Regards,
Ruth
Croft, UK.
07-Aug-99
You just put up my
listings. A quick note to say thank you.
I've had a response already - that's
within a day! - Kind regards,
Sherrie Blackman. - Sydney, Australia. 01 Aug
99
I appreciate your posting my
WALKERs of Saline query on your page. You have a wonderful web site
and I am sure it takes many hours of
work to maintain it. I salute you
for all your effort and good work! - Sue Delaney 31 July
1999
I have just been trawling
through the Kingdom of Fife surnames list,
and came across a possible connection
in Kinghorn in 1615.
You offer a great
service;
I am now all
inspired! - Patricia Hammond,
Australia 17 April
99
Thanks
for your very helpful website.
Keep up the good
work! Marion Paterson,
San Diego, CA, USA 11 March
99
I
must say I'm very pleased with the
way my submission looks on your
page. Many thanks for including it.
- Patricia Legg, Victoria, Australia 3 March
99
Thanks Hugh for the service you
provide by keeping the Fife surnames list going.
I have got in touch with a number of
people through
it. Michael
Pringle Wellington New Zealand
26-Feb-99
Keep up the good
work with the Fife Surnames Web
pages. We have met a 5th cousin from
Toronto and had email from another
in New Zealand. - Chris Whitaker - Newport Pagnell, UK -
16-Feb-99
I
had someone contact me about a year ago.
Turns out he is a distant
cousin. He had the same information
I had, so whenever we find new info we check in with each
other. Thanks a lot and
keep up the good work. -
Barbara Seggie, Cleveland OH USA - 9 Feb
99
Thank
you for the wonderful service you are
providing for us suffering with the
"Genealogy Addiction" syndrome. It really is great being able to work
from home - which we couldn't do if it wasn't for people like
yourself. Keep up the excellent work, it's really appreciated. - -
Sue Holloway
- Townsville, Queensland, Australia
- 3 Feb
99
It
would appear from "advertising" in your pages that
I have distant cousins living in
Australia. I have been in touch with
a fourth cousin - Steve Wakelys; his g. g. grandfather was one of
twin boys from Kemback, Fife 1795. Steve has a home page at
http://www.rpi.net.au/~swakely/.
Steve has put me in touch with a John Mason also in Australia who is
researching the MASON name.Following
on from this success I have some
more names for your list!
- Eric
Mason - United Kingdom - 28 Jan 99
Hi
Hugh. I didn't exactly know how all of the IZATT interest had been
generated in the past 6 months, but I
really suspected it must be from your Fife list
:) You then said there is a
little trick to know if my emails come from the Fife list. . . . if
they are addressed to: Bonnie-Gilson Phoenix-AZ-USA <email
address>. . I checked and many came in that way ...so yes,
your list has been a great
help! . . . Two
distant cousins have found me, one in Canada and one in Kentucky.
Another possibility is in England.
It's been great fun to work on this unusual
name. I've seen so much
interest in the name lately that I started a new surname list for
IZATT! Many
thanks for your help :) Bonnie Gilson
24-Dec-98
An
Australian was able to send me a lot of information on his direct
lines: I sent him a lot of information on my husband's direct lines
that he didn't have. I have also been
able to help several people that do not have common ancestors with
us, but I have access to some
records that they don't. The Fife
surname list has been a big help to
me in making some very valuable
contacts. Thank you for your efforts in maintaining this list. -
Joyce Hancock
Dec 98
Responses
to my listed surnames keep trickling
in - Antonia J,
New Zealand - 18 Dec
98
I
have been in touch with distant relatives in
Australia; we are now trying to
exchange trees. - Thurman Reynolds 18 Dec
98
By
posting to the Fife Surname List, I
made contact with two relatives from the other side of the
world, Jim Welsh (an Australian
living in London, England) and
Kaye
McFarlane from Melbourne, Australia.
We are related through our Welsh line. Jim and Kaye's line was
through a forebear cousin who emigrated from Kilconquhar to Australia
in 1854. Jim contacted me through your List in 1997, Kaye found me in
January '98; a three way dialog
began. Jim came up to Edinburgh in
summer '98 and we spent the day in Kilconquhar, Elie, Earlsferry and
St. Monance. Dave
Ravie, Fife Dec
98
Wow -
the site gets better and
better! I have found two
of my Fife cousins, though since people tend not to say where they
found your address, I am not sure this is the site. I am now "close"
to a seventh cousin once
removed of my husband's - who is
even more determined to go to Australia for a visit, since there are
so many new-found cousins there. At any rate, these cousins and I are
working hard to get back to before recorded time, but appear to be
stuck around 1700! You have done a
tremendous job - The
Fishers Dec
98
I
like the alternate format and find it easy to scan
quickly. - Nancy Bomford
Victoria Australia - Aug
98
I
thought I would just drop you a line to let you know that
I have had several
inquiries about the names I listed
in your List, and a couple have led
to shared ancestors. In one case, a
woman in Canada, Isabel Ashworth, and I share a set of g-g-g
grandparents - BUTTER. In another case Colin Wilson, Scotland, and I
share the same g-g-g-g grandparents: Colin is descended from a son of
the first marriage, I am descended from the second marriage. It turns
out that our g-g-g-g grandfather was
quite an adventurer and Colin has provided me with the whole story!
Martyn Obbard 25 Jun
1998
I
just wanted to thank you for being so helpful!
I browsed
your web
home page the other day
and was very
impressed! This genealogy is an
addiction, the more I know, the more I want to
know! - Suzanne - 14 May
1998
We had a response from Bill
Burland in regards to the Reekie name and it turns out that we are
related. He sent me a whole file on
the family, which was great. I've
been busy doing my web page and trying to get into the Scots Origins,
so I havent got back to visiting the Fife Surnames page.
regards
Glenys - Australia -
April
98
I
made contact with
Dave
Ravie in January this year. I saw
his name on the Kingdom of
Fife list and
emailed him - the first one I'd ever
written, so it was quite exciting! I
was interested in the WELSH, Kilconquhar 1748-1856 entry. My
gggrandfather was Thomas Welsh born Kilconquhar, 1832: he came to
Australia, hearing about the gold rush, in 1854. It turned out that
Dave and I are both descended from the WELSH family in Elie and
Kilconquhar. Our ggggrandfathers were brothers, Thomas and John.
Dave's research goes back to 1748: his branch remained in Scotland so
it has been interesting comparing notes and lifestyles. When our
Thomas came to Victoria, it was in the
first 20 years of white settlement
and he was a
pioneer in his district of
Euroa. Dave has also put me in touch
with another Welsh descendant-Jim
Welsh-in London. We all write
regularly and share research and have formed a good friendship as a
result. It all began with the Fife
surnames list! Kaye
and Daryl McFarlane Victoria, Australia - (via Merlyn
McLean) 22 April
98
I had
a minor
success finding a
far off
cousin for my husband with a
BOWMAN-Isabella posting. We have exchanged that branch and will be in
touch if we find more! So many thanks for the Listing. Slainte
Mhaithe -
Carol - Australia - Mar
98
I
keep getting replies to queries and
some of them are
connections.Thank you for being
there. Mary
LeMay California - Feb
1998
I
have had a couple of contacts via
the page. We are still in the data swapping stage..
It certainly has paid off for
me.
For me it is a valuable
resource. - Andrea
Hackney - Australia - Jan
98
I
had a terrific 'hit' from your
surname list a few days ago -- when I first discovered your site. I
replied to the DOIG surname and got in return
my whole Doig
line, of which my gg grandmother was
one. Ken Doig, who entered the query, didn't have details of my gg
grandmother, so I was able to repay
him with some information he was
missing.- Mary - Dec 1997
Congrats...on your Kingdom of Fife
Surname Listing..Your listings look
great here in California - Keep up
the good work.. Regards... expat from Dunfermline -
Jim
White - Nov
1977
Philosophy
and method for updating this
list As this list
expands, the burden of maintaining control becomes more demanding.
The following policies are employed;
1. email address notifications are
acted upon ASAP, usually within days - 2 weeks typical maximum; this
also applies to requested removal of entries.
2.
Bounces, when reported, get similar
treatment: various processes are used to try to obtain new e-mail
addresses.
3.
Updates take a little longer - up to six months!
The 23rd edition, Jan 2005 - Dec
2006 is ongoing and placement into
proper alpha order takes place on an ad-hoc
basis. The
queries go up quite quickly too, but some need careful thought and
have yet to be edited and put up. Dealing with submitters
who do not provide information
according to the suggested format
(requiring extra e-mails, editing and proof-checking)
takes not only a lot of time but also
delays! With over 200,000 hits in 8
years, the average is about 80 hits per
day.
Comments,
submissions and suggestions welcome - Hugh Reekie
h.reekie@ieee.org back
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